Participation in the UK

It is reckoned that there are around 900 players in the UK, with the vast majority of these playing at one of the 14 public schools who have 1 or 2 courts. Other active players participate in the thriving club scene at the clubs within the UK such as Seacourt, Manchester or Queens Club. Many public schools also organise ‘Evening Clubs’ where members of the public, school leavers and current school staff members can enjoy the game, supervised by teaching professionals.

T&RA Objective

A key objective of the T&RA is to increase participation within school leavers since massive numbers of schoolboys and girls participate in the National Public Schools championships every year yet comparatively fewer continue to play the game after school. Funds for young players and existing Academy structures are in place to encourage talented young players to continue playing Rackets. Furthermore, participation among female players has increased superbly in recent years, with the first Ladies British Open and National Schoolgirls Championships being hosted in the 2010/11 season. This encouraged all school professionals at co-ed schools to develop training programs for girls as well as boys and the fact that girls can now begin Rackets at the same time as boys gives them equal opportunity to develop into top-level players.

Court Development

New courts have also been planned at single-court schools, with Tonbridge School building a new court in 2012 to cope with the increasing demand for court time by hundreds of enthusiastic schoolboys, and the latest development which refurbished the original over-sized court at Harrow, completed in 2020. The construction of new courts increases participation and a crucial way to grow the game of Rackets is to both maintain (by replacing older and decaying structures) and construct new centres for play.